| 9 DEC 2005 at 11:06am |
Erik84Intergalactic Janitor
Posts : 92
Joined: 1 OCT 2005
Status : Online | I recommend you start off with Sims 1. Expansion packs are available to get more places to go in game, get more stuff in your house etc (but you always have to have the original game in order to play the expansions). In Sims 1 there's 7 expansion packs and Sims 2 has 3, I think!
Moment Of Silence IS AG of the year!
|
| 9 DEC 2005 at 6:00pm |
WimliGuild Master
Posts : 3259
Joined: 14 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Hi Avatar! Great, a new Simmer, you'll be addicted to it in no time, trust me.
Right now, it's a good idea to pick up The Sims 1: Complete Collection. It includes the first game, plus all expansion packs that were released for it. There's TONS of gameplay in there!
Check it out here
It should be available in local stores. You are from America, right? This link brings you to the American release. Europe got another box for it.
Oh, and keep an eye on this section of the forum, Susan keeps us posted on new releases in the Sims universe.
|
| 10 DEC 2005 at 10:07pm |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Wimli (9 DEC 2005 5:59pm)
Oh, and keep an eye on this section of the forum, Susan keeps us posted on new releases in the Sims universe.
I can even hook you up with where to find a couple of skins/items for adventure game characters. But that can wait until after you've been playing for awhile.
My one piece of advice, though, for whatever combination of Sims 1 game and expansion packs you get: DON'T install everything at once! Install the base game, play with it, check it out, make sure everything's working, then install the first expansion pack (if you get the collection, it'll tell you what order, or just ask), play with it a bit, etc. You want to make sure one thing's working before you move on to the next, and it will keep you from being overwhelmed the first time you play the game.
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
|
| 10 DEC 2005 at 11:05pm |
WimliGuild Master
Posts : 3259
Joined: 14 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Susan, the Cold-as-Ice Goddess (10 DEC 2005 10:07pm)
Originally Posted By Wimli (9 DEC 2005 5:59pm)
Oh, and keep an eye on this section of the forum, Susan keeps us posted on new releases in the Sims universe.
I can even hook you up with where to find a couple of skins/items for adventure game characters. But that can wait until after you've been playing for awhile.
Jep, I still have the Gabriel & Grace skins I got from Susan saved on my hard disk.
My one piece of advice, though, for whatever combination of Sims 1 game and expansion packs you get: DON'T install everything at once! Install the base game, play with it, check it out, make sure everything's working, then install the first expansion pack (if you get the collection, it'll tell you what order, or just ask), play with it a bit, etc. You want to make sure one thing's working before you move on to the next, and it will keep you from being overwhelmed the first time you play the game.
Yeah, I would have adviced that as well, but the problem is that some elements don't carry over that well. Starting from the expansion pack Hot Date (if I'm not mistaken), your sims gain extra parameters that determine their character. The sims you've created before installing Hot Date have really screwed up parameters (one extreme and the other all zero) and are just not able to build friendships with newly created sims.
But idd, you should probably start out with the original game itself, explore possibilities and such, and when you're getting used to that start installing the expansion packs. But keep the creation of Sims you want to play with a long time for later, when all expansion packs are taking up the necessary hard drive space.
|
| 12 DEC 2005 at 6:42pm |
AvatarPrivate Detective
Posts : 661
Joined: 3 JAN 2004
Status : Online | Great!!! That's fabulous... and it's only $39.95, so I can ask for it for christmas... yay!!
Thanks all!
My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.&&&&The measure of civility in a society is not how it treats those that are loved, but how it treats those that are hated.
|
| 3 JAN 2006 at 3:54am |
jalexSchattenjger
Posts : 2503
Joined: 5 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | I played Sims 1 and thought it was pretty good. I downloaded lots of goddies to add to it and that kept me interested for quite a long time but I eventually got tired of it.
I am thinking a little of getting Sims 2 now but I would probably get tired of it as well after a while too.
|
| 3 JAN 2006 at 5:32pm |
The Terror of the Wolf part 3Schattenjger
Posts : 2391
Joined: 11 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Be very afraid.
First it eats your spare time. Then it eats your soul.
[url=http://www.justadventure.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1136331866/0#0]GAMES FOR TRADE!![/url]
|
| 3 JAN 2006 at 6:57pm |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Wolfboy (3 JAN 2006 5:31pm)
First it eats your spare time. Then it eats your soul. Then your hard drive, wallet & credit cards.
TS2 is fun, but if someone's iffy about buying it, I'd say wait until more expansions come out and it goes down in price.
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
|
| 5 JAN 2006 at 3:10am |
MikekellyPrivate Detective
Posts : 612
Joined: 25 JUN 2004
Status : Offline |
The sims games for the GBA have been described as having some adventure game qualities - I'd start there.
I love the GBA sims games and buy each one the day they come out.
|
| 6 JAN 2006 at 4:31pm |
AvatarPrivate Detective
Posts : 661
Joined: 3 JAN 2004
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Wolfboy (3 JAN 2006 5:31pm)
First it eats your spare time. Then it eats your soul.
(kind of like a forum i know?)
My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.&&&&The measure of civility in a society is not how it treats those that are loved, but how it treats those that are hated.
|
| 8 JAN 2006 at 10:38am |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Avatar (6 JAN 2006 4:30pm)
Originally Posted By Wolfboy (3 JAN 2006 5:31pm)
First it eats your spare time. Then it eats your soul.
(kind of like a forum i know?) TimeAndSoul-Eaters.com? Yeah, I'd watch out for them. :
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
|
| 8 JAN 2006 at 3:39pm |
AvatarPrivate Detective
Posts : 661
Joined: 3 JAN 2004
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Susan, the Saggitarius babe (8 JAN 2006 10:38am)
Originally Posted By Avatar (6 JAN 2006 4:30pm)
Originally Posted By Wolfboy (3 JAN 2006 5:31pm)
First it eats your spare time. Then it eats your soul.
(kind of like a forum i know?) TimeAndSoul-Eaters.com? Yeah, I'd watch out for them. :
[smiley=rofl.gif] [smiley=rofl.gif] [smiley=rofl.gif] [smiley=rofl.gif] [smiley=clap.gif]
My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.&&&&The measure of civility in a society is not how it treats those that are loved, but how it treats those that are hated.
|
| 11 JAN 2006 at 1:44am |
mszvPrivate Detective
Posts : 751
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Hi all.
I'm playing Sims 2 for the Nintendos DS. I'm really enjoying it, much more than I thought I would.
I haven't played the other Sims games, so I might get the comparison wrong, but I'll try. I think it's like a Sims game, but more directed, and with less choices. You have one main character. You do have to do what I would call "Sims things" - your sim person still has to eat, sleep, perform a couple of bodily functions (all edited, all "PG", and has to interact with people. The meter/gage on how well your Sim is holding up is one meter, so it might be simplified, don't know. It's called the Sanity level. When it dips too low, you have to do something - your Sim lets you know pictorially. If it drops too low, your Sim has funny and scary sci-fi like hallucinations, before it passes out - not to worry, it gets revived and ends up safe in the room, dead tired with a very low sanity level. You also have various clothes and can change clothing (took be a bit to figure out how) - it's nice. You pick one major aspiration for you Sim. As far as I can tell, you still have the same goal, no matter what you pick, but the game may approach it in different ways. Me, I picked aspiration, and so I can earn money from my hotel guests. Maybe, with a different choice, you might get more rewards from your guests for being social with them, that sort of thing.
I don't know if the other Sims games have story elements, but this one does. It has what I would call adventure and story elements, though the adventure part is pretty straightforward. On the story parts, it's not just random. There are specific things that happen, little story elements, and when they happen, there is a change in the game, and you don't get to go back to the way it was before. Some things are different. The game begins with a story. In a cut scene you find out that your Sim (who you get to name, pick the gender, clothes, etc) has car trouble, and, in an early bit of playing the game (where they guide you along) you end up being a manager of a hotel, on the edge of the desert, in a quirky little town. You have to build up the hotel (get those rooms built, other stuff), earn money, and keep the townspeople and the guests happy. There's some romance.
Then, stuff happens. over time. There are aliens (it's in the desert after all). There's a mobster. You get some quests to do. You have to find stuff for people. You have to do stuff for people. There is maybe a big underlying mystery or two, but I'm not there yet, so I'm not sure. It's sim like, but there's also a bt of a story, and goals that don't have anything to do with what you want, as they are part of running the hotel.
It's a quirky town, and the inhabitents and the guests are, well, quirky. They are also, as far as I can tell, on the dysfunctional side. In my personna as hotel manager, I find myself saying to myself - "what - depressed again" - oh, just get a grip"! Of course I don't do that (and I can't) - I need them in-game. So I do all the steps of calming these people down, cheer them up, impress them, and oh yeah, have a little romance.
Sims 2 for the Nintendo DS also happens in real time. There's always stuff to do, but if something is going to take 8 hours (or a day, can't remember) it's going to take 8 hours. One example is getting a new hotel room built. (Aside, you know, if that guy building the new room for me wasn't so DEPRESSED all the time - have to keep cheering him up - perhaps it would take less time). Since it's real time, I don't know what would happen if, for example, you left the game for a couple of weeks or months, and brought up your last save. Would the hotel be in ruins, would your guests be really angry? I don't know if there is any cutoff period - if the situation gets bad (since you neglected them), but there's a limit on how bad it gets.
You also get to paint pictures and mix music.
My impression is that, compared to the PC games, there might be limited choice. From my perspective, there are just "the right" amount of choices for this game to run nicely on a little handheld.
It's been awhile since I've enjoyed a game so much, and it's just a little sim game for the Nintendo DS!
Regards, mszv
|
| 12 JAN 2006 at 8:08pm |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Thanks for that review.
I decided NOT to buy The Sims 2 for PS2 because:
- You can't download all the wonderful clothes, objects, etc that people create (that goes for CHEATS so you wouldn't have to spend all that time people keeping happy and get to focus on other things.
- Sims can't give birth! That's half the fun, whether they're female or male sims ... hehehe. Watching them go from babies > toddlers > children > teens > young adults > adults > elders.
Only the console version has the story mode - you make up your own stories w/ the PC version.
(Trying to type & eat lunch at the same time doesn't work too well. )
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
|
| 13 JAN 2006 at 6:13pm |
mszvPrivate Detective
Posts : 751
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Susan, I reviewed the Nintendo DS version of Sims 2. I'm not sure what the PSP version is like.
Yeah, I think it's a cross between a Sims game and another type of game - it has adventure and a little bit of action elements (not too much of those) and some directed gameplay. Periodically you get goals you are supposed to accomplish. It doesn't have all the Sims functionality, and also has stuff that the PC Sims games don't have.
Sad to admit, since I love big beautiful detailed graphics, but I'm addicted to this game on the Nintendo DS. Now, the game looks good, for a handheld game, but one can't compare it to the beauty of a PC game! It is a full 3D game though, which is pretty amazing.
I'm sure I'll get tired of it, but that mix of do whatever you want or think you need to do, and some goals/assignments, and some story elements - this works for me.
Oh, you do get to acquire some objects, and move them around, but it's limited. And no, no generation gameplay - no one is aging, growing up, that sort of thing.
Regards, mszv
|
| 13 JAN 2006 at 7:52pm |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | I said PS2, not PSP. But from my understanding, they are essentially the same game. EA had a promotion where you could send away for a free PS2 demo disc, which I did. Fun for a short demo, but it didn't attract me that much, since elements seemed similar to The Sims: Bustin' Out that I own. But I appreciate that they added new elements from the PC version and are making the effort (cough *marketing geniuses* cough) to make sure everybody can play the game.
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
|
| 4 SEP 2006 at 2:51am |
ArcherIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 7
Joined: 4 SEP 2006
Status : Online | I have sims2 and all the expains packs for it i also got the book for sims2 before I bought the game. I really addive to play i know alot of cheats for sims2 for each expasion pack
Me loves to play Nancy Drew/Sims2 plus with the expaians packs&&&&ArChEr!!!!!!!!!!!!!&&
|
| 16 OCT 2006 at 5:47pm |
jalexSchattenjger
Posts : 2503
Joined: 5 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | I have some questions too. I played Sims 1 and got board with it after a while. I would guess the same would happen with Sims 2 but I haven't got it yet. Is it a lot better and what are the improvments they made to it?
I am still wondering if I should buy it or not.
|
| 16 OCT 2006 at 7:51pm |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | It's better - way better!
Technically, it has realistic animations and facial expressions (I'm told the Pets expansion has realistic pets, too), better-looking graphics, the ability to ZOOM in way close.
Gameplay wise, there are life stages (sims get older), more for them to do and more social interactions, they cook actual food, genetics get passed down, houses can have multiple levels and/or a basement, and of course, the expansions greatly enhance already-existing gameplay:
University - Gives sims the opportunity to go to college (another life stage: Young Adult) and cellphones.
Nightlife - Sims get to own cars, go bowling, chemistry/attraction affects relationships, sims get their own personal invetory to store things.
Business - Sims can open up their own community lot or home business ... and ANY community lot (no matter what expansion it came with) can be turned into a business.
Pets - Pets! Well, it comes out tomorrow, so I can't comment on it, yet.
Of course, each expansion comes with new objects, social interactions, and building tools, so even if you don't want to open a business or something, you'll still get something out of it. I thought Nightlife would be a Hot Date clone, but it's not, and I love it! I also download things, so that keeps the game exciting for me between expansions.
My one piece of advice before you decide on a purchase would be to make sure you have lots of RAM. A good graphics card is a plus, but the RAM is a definite must no matter what!
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
|
| 18 OCT 2006 at 10:34pm |
jalexSchattenjger
Posts : 2503
Joined: 5 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Susan (16 OCT 2006 7:51pm)
It's better - way better!
Technically, it has realistic animations and facial expressions (I'm told the Pets expansion has realistic pets, too), better-looking graphics, the ability to ZOOM in way close.
Gameplay wise, there are life stages (sims get older), more for them to do and more social interactions, they cook actual food, genetics get passed down, houses can have multiple levels and/or a basement, and of course, the expansions greatly enhance already-existing gameplay:
University - Gives sims the opportunity to go to college (another life stage: Young Adult) and cellphones.
Nightlife - Sims get to own cars, go bowling, chemistry/attraction affects relationships, sims get their own personal invetory to store things.
Business - Sims can open up their own community lot or home business ... and ANY community lot (no matter what expansion it came with) can be turned into a business.
Pets - Pets! Well, it comes out tomorrow, so I can't comment on it, yet.
Of course, each expansion comes with new objects, social interactions, and building tools, so even if you don't want to open a business or something, you'll still get something out of it. I thought Nightlife would be a Hot Date clone, but it's not, and I love it! I also download things, so that keeps the game exciting for me between expansions.
My one piece of advice before you decide on a purchase would be to make sure you have lots of RAM. A good graphics card is a plus, but the RAM is a definite must no matter what!
Thanks Susan
I have a gig of ram but I run 98SE. Is that a problem?
|
